Liverpool vs Chelsea - Preview and Prediction

Liverpool take on Chelsea at home in the Barclays Premier League

In the last match before the international break, Chelsea are heading to Merseyside to play out-of-form Liverpool.

Six months has gone since the infamous Steven Gerrard slip put Demba Ba through on goal to end Liverpool’s hopes of a first Premier League title.

In the Saturday lunchtime kick-off, Brendan Rodgers’ men are out to revenge what proved to be a costly defeat towards the end of last season.

Chelsea team news

Diego Costa was left out of the Spain squad for next week’s internationals, but the striker is fit and ready to start the match at Anfield after starting on the bench in midweek.

Also back in contention for Premier League game time again is Cesar Azpilicueta, who finished his three-match suspension in last week’s encounter with QPR.

There are more good news for Jose Mourinho before the international break as Loic Remy and John Obi Mikel also are fit and ready to play after respective injury trouble, though we are not expecting many changes to the side for this big match.

Still unbeaten this season, nothing but a win will be good enough for Mourinho, a desire he expressed in his press conference on Friday.

Our intention is to win. When we have the ball we want to try to score goals and when Liverpool have the ball we have to try to stop them scoring goals. This is the ABC of football.

Liverpool team news

Much has changed at Anfield since the meeting six months ago with their star strikers either being sold or injured as the main talking points, while their lack of goals has become a big worry for manager Brendan Rodgers.

In Madrid on Tuesday he chose to rest seven players for the Champions League tie against Real Madrid, a game they lost 1-0, so their starting XI should be well-rested and ready to bounce back against the league leaders.

Steven Gerrard will be back in the team after sitting out against Real Madrid, something Raheem Sterling, Jordan Henderson, Philipe Coutinho and Dejan Lovren also will.

Mario Balotelli is expected to drop to the bench after his lack of goals, which most likely will mean Fabio Borini coming in in his place.

We are expecting a tight match against 7th placed Liverpool, though a win will be on the cards if our motor is running as normal considering our quality and their poor form.

We are predicting a 2-1 win, with Costa and Eden Hazard getting the goals.